Ayobami Adedinni
Olukokun Tolulope Opeyemi, a Mechatronics Engineering Lecturer and chief executive officer,ThinkElectric Africa, an outfit with the sole mission of accelerating the transitioning to renewable and sustainable energy using indigenous technology has described the recent advocacy for the electrification of mobility as the future of transportation system.
Speaking with PetrolGasReport, he said the move to a clean and green environment can only be fast tracked with the Transportation industry.
In his words, ” Electric vehicles are the predominant subject of discourse these days because the transportation system contributes about 27 per cent of carbon emissions globally and if we are to move quickly to a clean and green environment, it is the first sector to start with.
” It is the most reasonable start point for our acceleration to clean energy, this includes the land, sea and air means of transportation.
“There is Tesla championing the cause in EVs, and Lilium Jet coming out with full autonomous electric air taxis that would be commercially available by 2025. A plethora of Freelancers are also working on electric boats and ships.
“At ThinkElectric Africa, we are working tirelessly to making electric mobility available and affordable in our nation via our researched solutions despite our power challenges,” he said.
According to him, laws should be made to levy the oil and gas sector on the emissions caused and the funds use for research and development of renewable energy in the country.
Speaking further, he said funds still remain the greatest challenge for operators in the sector adding that it has slowed the progress of its work on a model of electric vehicles.
He said, “Funding has been a major issue to research and developments but proactive societies always break the barrier of funding with proper planning. It becomes more difficult when you compare Nigeria as a nation with the rest of the world.
” Most researchers usually rely on foreign grants before they could make tangible landmarks. Truly speaking, R&D is very expensive but that does not excuse us from exploring new and emerging technologies.
” ThinkElectric Africa has relied mostly on personal funding till date. Although we have written to many organisations and individuals for support, most of which have not yielded much results.
” Inadequate funding has slowed us down greatly especially on the model electric vehicle we are currently building up to the working prototype of our researched solution.
” It has been a huge challenge, but we are not discouraged. This is a worthy course and we are determined to see it through and hope to get a positive response from those we have contacted,” he added.